Device for sewing plush fabrics or furs

ABSTRACT

Device for sewing plush fabrics or furs that are covered at the pile or hair side by means of a spur or tail that tapers in the manner of a wedge in the direction of sewing and divides the pile which is disposed at the broad side of a flat support facing the pile side of the work blank where a duct conducting air under pressure passes through the pile divider spur, the discharge opening of which is disposed on the side of the pile divider spur remote from the pile side of the work blank, so that a current of air acts in the direction of sewing upon the material being sewn.

United States Patent Herbert Erb; Erhard Marionek; Walter Steinbach, allof Kaiserslautern, Germany [72] lnventors [21] AppLNo. 44,794

[22] Filed June 9,1970 [45] Patented Dec. 21,1971 [73] Assignee G.M.Plait AG Kaiserslautern, Rtjalz, Germany [54] DEVICE FOR SEWING PLUSHFABRICS 0R FURS 4 Claims, 5 Drawing Figs.

136, 20,16, 7, 8, 9,DIG. 3

Primary Examiner-41. Hampton Hunter Attorney-Robert H. Jacob ABSTRACT:Device for sewing plush fabrics or furs that are covered at the pile orhair side by means of a spur or tail that tapers in the manner ofa wedgein the direction of sewing and divides the pile which is disposed at thebroad side of a flat support facing the pi1e side of the work blankwhere a duct conducting air under pressure passes through the piledivider spur, the discharge opening of which is disposed on the side ofthe pile divider spur remote from the pile side of the work blank, sothat a current of air acts in the direction of sewing upon the materialbeing sewn.

DEVICE FOR SEWING PLUSH FABRICS OR FURS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Theinvention relates to a means for sewing plush fabrics or furs which arecovered on the pile or shag side, particularly an auxiliary device forperforming such sewing operations.

It is necessary in order to produce straight fastening seams in plushfabrics or furs that the hair pile in front of the stitch location inthe area of the seam line is spread apart to expose the base fabric orbase material. For this purpose a pile or shag divider tail is employedwhich is arranged at the broad side of a flat support facing the pileside of the sewing material, and which tapers down in the direction ofsewing in the manner of a wedge. As the hair pile is separated with suchdevices the result of the crest or vertex forming depends essentially onhow dense the condition of the hair pile is and in what position oforientation the pile hairs of the material are fed or moved toward thelocation of the crest or vertex.

During cresting due to the lateral deflecting of the hairs located inthe area of the pile divider tail, the hairpile bordering on this areais made denser. Due to the elastic behavior of the hairs behind thelocation of parting (crest) the thickening partly loosens itself again,and the previously deviated hairs are forced back in the direction ofthe line of the crest. However, the denser the pile condition is, thestronger will be the pile thickening because of the cresting operation,and as a consequence also the Subsequent narrowing of the crest groovecaused thereby.

The result of the cresting becomes a great deal worse if the hairs ofthe material fed in do not extend in the direction of sewing but, forexample, transversely thereto. The relatively strong bending anddeviating of the hairs disposed in the direction of the seam line,resulting from the cresting operation, produces correspondingly greatresetting forces, which together with the forces resulting from thedensening of the hair pile behind the crest location move the hairs backagain far beyond the cresting line.

The magnitude of the resetting forces caused by the elasticity isinversely proportional to the intensity and to the time period withwhich the hairs were originally deviated out of their original positionof orientation. Starting with this discovery the invention is based onthe problem, to overcome the aforementioned difficulties and to create adevice where the forces of alignment or the crest forces act upon thepile hairs to be crested during a relatively longer time period in orderto thus attain an improved stabilization of the crest position ofthepile hairs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the invention this problemis dealt with by a device for sewing plush fabrics or furs that arecovered at the pile or hair side by means of a divider tail device thatseparates the pile, which is provided on a flat support, the broad sideof which faces the pile side of the work blank and which tapers down inthe direction of sewing in wedgelike manner, where the pile divider tailhas a duct that supplies air under pressure, the exit opening of whichis provided on the side of the pile divider tail that is opposite fromthe pile side of the work blank in such a manner that a current of airacts on the sewing material in the direction of sewing.

In the preferred embodiment the device is constructed in a manner thatthe end piece of the pressure air duct extends substantially to the piledivider tail and the discharge opening is disposed in the plane of thenarrow side of the support that faces the point of the pile dividertail. By means of this arrangement the pile hairs aligned more or lessfar ahead of the crest location parallel to the direction of sewing,depending upon the width of effectiveness of the air pressure current,are kept in position until they reach the pile divider tail. During thisperiod of time, the length of which depends on the distance of reach ofthe pressure air current and on the feeding speed of the material, themagnitude of the elastic resetting force is decreased in that theinitially excessive deformation is converted partly into remainingdeformation due to the increasing reduction of the inner work materialtensions caused by the deforming. In this: manner the hair pile isalready preconditioned, i.e., it is fed to the location of the crest orcrown in prealigned form.

With the device in accordance with: the invention the crest alignmentforces are effective during a relatively long period of time, so thatalso the elastic resetting forces resulting from cresting can reducethemselves considerably more.

The result of the work of the device in accordance with the inventionthus is comparable with the work result of a pile divider spur or tailof longer and broader construction, while the device in accordance withthe invention does not possess the awkwardness of such divider tails. Afurther essential advantage is that hair pile pressed flat is loosenedby the action of the pressure of the stream of air and thus facilitatesthe cresting. It must be noted that without being seized by the piledivider tail, flattened hairs slip along the outside of the divider tailand are then seized as the seam is formed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Further advantages and features of theinvention will become apparent from the following description withreference to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings, in which FIG.1 is a perspective illustration of the pile divider for sewing plushfabrics or furs whose pile side may be exposed or covered up;

FIG. la is a perspective illustration of part of a second embodiment ofa pile divider or separator for sewing of plush fabrics or furs with thepile sides disposed against each other;

FIG. 2 is a section along line II-II in FIG. la where the pile dividerin accordance with FIG. la is Illl position of use;

FIG. 3 illustrates the manner of operation of the embodiment of FIG. Iwith the pile hairs oriented transversely of the direction of sewing;and

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of the manner of operation of thepile divider in accordance with FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The device in accordance with the inventioncomprises a flat support 1 which has a small tongue 2 at one of its endsand which expands at its other end to form a mounting plate or bar 3provided with slots. Along the bottom broad side I.ll of the support 1(FIG. la) at the tongue 2, a small spur or tail 4 is provided whichserves for separating or cresting the pile. The tail 4 projects beyondthe front narrow side 8 of the tongue 2 and tapers down to form a point4.1L

The device in accordance with the invention is employed with a sewingmachine provided in a known manner with a needle N, a looper of any typedesired (not illustrated), and any desired feeding means (likewise notillustrated), for feed ing the work blank to form a seam S.

The device as shown in the direction of feed F of the work blank isfastened at any suitable location ahead of the stepper foot P of themachine and is oriented in a manner that the pile divider spur 4 islocated above the work blank WI with its pile side FS facing upwardlyand parallel to the direction of sewing. The pile divider point 4.1 isoriented in the direction D. Above the pile divider spur 4 and parallelthereto the end part 5 of a thin tubular conduit 6 is arranged in thetongue 2, which leads along the back side of the tongue 2 or of thesupport l and is connected with a supply of air under pressure (notshown).

The discharge opening 7 of the conduit 6 is located at the forwardnarrow side 8 on the tongue 2. Thus the air under pressure flows out ofthe side 4.2 of the pile divider spur 4 which is opposite from the pileside FS of the work blank W1 in the direction of the point 4.1 of thespur or tail.

A further pile divider tail 9 that tapers into a point 9.1 is arrangedin the upper broad side 1.2 of the support I vertically above the firstpile divider tail 4 in the same direction of orientation for sewingtogether two plush fabrics or furs W1 and W2 that rest against eachother with the pile sides FS as illustrated in FIGS. 1a and 2.

The endpiece 5 of the tubular conduit 6 lies in this connectionsymmetrically between the pile divider tails 4, 9, so that the pressureair acts in an equal manner upon hairs of the lower end of the upperwork blank W1 and W2. The direction of flow and the approximatedistribution of the compressed air discharging out of the dischargeopening 7 is indicated in FIG. 2 by three dot and dash arrows A.

FIG. 3 explains the manner of operation of the pile divider inaccordance with the invention in connection with an exposed hair pile,i.e., a hair pile which is not covered by a second work blank and whosehairs H are oriented transversely of the direction of sewing D.Depending on the intensity of the ray of air discharging from theendpiece 5 of the tubular conduit 6, the hairs H are more or lessaligned in the direction of sewing in front of the point 4.1 of the piledivider tail 4 (F10. la) and held in that position until they reach thepile divider tail 4. During this period of effectiveness, the durationof which depends besides the reach of the compressed air ray also on thefeeding speed of the work blank W1, the internal tensions in the workmaterial which develop while the direction is changed and thedeformation of the hairs H which initially is elastic, change partly toa remaining deformation.

A similarly advantageous effect is applied by the compressed air alsoduring the subsequent cresting operation. As shown by FIG. 4, the hairsH which come in contact with the lateral aligning surfaces of the piledivider tail 4 are diverted at the place of contact laterally out of theplane of the crest. In this connection, that part which is seized by thepile divider tail 4 which reaches from the point of contact to the pointof the hairs H seized is furthermore maintained by the compressed air ina position parallel to the direction of sewing D which is now, however,laterally displaced with respect to the original position correspondingto the deviation. In this manner the hairs H seized by the lateralaligning surfaces are already removed out of the plane of the crestright in the beginning of the cresting operation along their entirelength, so that also the elastic resetting forces which develop duringcresting will have time to decrease.

The effect of the compressed air during the cresting operation isillustrated in FIG. 4 with a hair pile whose hairs H were alreadyaligned originally in the direction of sewing D. The same effect mayalso be obtained with a hair pile aligned in any desired manner. Thehairs H moved towards the cresting location were already aligned by thecompressed air far ahead of the point 4.1 of the pile divider tail 4 insewing direction D.

The manner of action of the device in accordance with the inventionexplained with reference to the first embodiment applies correspondinglyalso to the second embodiment with two pile divider tails 4, 9 arrangedone above the other.

In order that the compressed air also applies a good aligning effect tothe end of the projecting part of the pile divider tails 4, 9 which facethe tongue 2, it may be suitable to widen the aperture 7 of thecompressed air duct 6 in a lateral plane. This can be done, for example,by constructing it in the form of an elongated hole or slot.

Having now described our invention with reference to the embodimentsillustrated, what we desire to protect by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is set forth in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. Device for sewing plush fabrics, furs and the like that are coveredon the pile or hair side, said device being positioned in advance of theneedle and constituted by a generally flat support presenting a broadside, a spur disposed at the pile side of said broad side tapering inwedgelike manner from said broad side away from the needle to define atip at its free end operative to divide the pile as the pile is movedthereagainst, and a duct for supplying compressed air having a dischargeaperture aligned in a direction opposite to the direction 'of feeding ofthe work blanks and disposed at the end of said spur reniote from sai dtip and being operative to directa jet of air against the pile in adirection opposite to the direction of feeding of the work blanks.

2. Device in accordance with claim 1, where said discharge aperture ofsaid duct is oriented generally parallel to said spur and is disposed ina plane extending between said support and the tip of said spur.

3. Device for sewing two plush fabrics or furs disposed with their pileor fur sides against one another, said device being positioned inadvance of the needle and comprising a generally flat support presentinga broad side and having a spur at the top and a spur at the bottom ofsaid broad side, each said spur tapering in the direction away from saidneedle and from said broad side to end in a tip operative to divide thepile as the pile is moved thereagainst, and a duct for supplyingcompressed air having a discharge aperture aligned in a directionopposite to the direction of feeding of the work blanks and disposedbetween said spurs remote from the tips thereof and being operative todirect a jet of air against the pile of the two fabrics or furs disposedagainst one another.

4. Device in accordance with claim 3, where said discharge aperture ofsaid duct is oriented generally parallel to said spurs and is disposedin a plane extending between said support and the tips of said spurs.

lOlOlS 02l6 Patent No. 3 .628 .475 Dated December 21, 1971 Inve tHerbert Erb, et a1 It is certified that error appears in theabove-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are herebycorrected as shown below:

On the cover sheet, insert [32] Priority June 18, 1969 Germany Gm. G 6924 106.1.

Signed and sealed this 14th day of November 1972.,

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Attesting Officer Commissionerof Patents FORM PO-XOSO (10-69) USCOMMDC 6037G-P69 9 U.S. GOVERNMENTPRINTING OFFICE: X969 D-36S-'334,

1. Device for sewing plush fabrics, furs and the like that are coveredon the pile or hair side, said device being positioned in advance of theneedle and constituted by a generally flat support presenting a broadside, a spur disposed at the pile side of said broad side tapering inwedgelike manner from said broad side away from the needle to define atip at its free end operative to divide the pile as the pile is movedthereagainst, and a duct for supplying compressed air having a dischargeaperture aligned in a direction opposite to the direction of feeding ofthe work blanks and disposed at the end of said spur remote from saidtip and being operative to direct a jet of air against the pile in adirection opposite to the direction of feeding of the work blanks. 2.Device in accordance with claim 1, where said discharge aperture of saidduct is oriented generally parallel to said spur and is disposed in aplane extending between said support and the tip of said spur.
 3. Devicefor sewing two plush fabrics or furs disposed with their pile or fursides against one another, said device being positioned in advance ofthe needle and comprising a generally flat support presenting a broadside and having a spur at the top and a spur at the bottom of said broadside, each said spur tapering in the direction away from said needle andfrom said broad side to end in a tip operative to divide the pile as thepile is moved thereagainst, and a duct for supplying compressed airhaving a discharge aperture aligned in a direction opposite to thedirection of feeding of the work blanks and disposed between said spursremote from the tips thereof and being operative to direct a jet of airagainst the pile of the two fabrics or furs disposed against oneanother.
 4. Device in accordance with claim 3, where said dischargeaperture of said duct is oriented generally parallel to said spurs andis disposed in a plane extending between said support and the tips ofsaid spurs.